MADISON, Wis. – He didn’t say specifically when the notion came to him, but Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard said he and his fellow Big Ten coaches felt that Rutgers was going to “be a tough out” through the Big Ten conference grind.

His Badgers saw firsthand just how maddening facing the Scarlet Knights can be.

Despite the 2-7 record away from home, Rutgers continued its recent hot streak by knocking off its third straight ranked team with a 73-65 victory over No.14 Wisconsin at the Kohl Center.

In winning their first game in Madison, the Scarlet Knights (15-9, 9-5 Big Ten) outplayed the Badgers for long stretches, especially over the last five minutes. It is a stretch of the game Wisconsin (19-5, 10-4) has usually thrived in during its 2021-22 campaign, especially with the program’s ability to limit turnovers and sophomore Johnny Davis’s clutch gene. However, both of those traits backfired badly during Saturday’s ugly home loss.

Here are my five takeaways from the defeat.

A badge of honor for Wisconsin in 2021-22 was the 11-1 record in games decided by six points or fewer. Yes, the lack of blowout wins might hurt the Badgers in the computer rankings, but the ability to close games and rack up victories was a huge confidence boost for a young roster early in the season.

That 11-1 record remains intact after Saturday, largely because the Badgers went so cold down the stretch that Rutgers blew the game open.

UW trailed for over 31 minutes in the first of two meetings between the schools, unable to slow a Rutgers offense that shot 51.0 percent from the field and 58.3 percent from the perimeter. The Scarlet Knights’ confidence led them to only one scoring drought that lasted longer than three possessions in the second half.

UW took the lead five separate times in the second half and tied the game four other times, yet never could sustain a run long enough to build a lead more than three points or longer than 1 minute, 49 seconds.

After going up 60-59 with 4:49 remaining, the Badgers didn’t score again until 30 seconds remained, eight empty possessions that included four turnovers and no offensive rebounds. Those four turnovers (half of the eight the Badgers had in the second half – their highest turnover rate for a half all season) led to seven points.

“We had a couple turnovers down the stretch that really were able to get them some points when we had the ball and should have been able to score,” forward Tyler Wahl said. “We got to take better care of the ball down the stretch and take advantage of our opportunities.”

Davis has had a knack for late-game magic throughout the season, making the final three field goals in UW’s upset at Purdue and scoring four times Tuesday when Michigan State brought the game to within one possession. With UW’s offense needing a boost in the final five minutes, naturally, Davis would be the hero again.

The reality was far from it. Davis was only able to attempt one shot down the stretch for the Badgers, a missed step-back jumper with 2:39 remaining because he was hounded by Rutgers’ defense. He committed a bad pass just after UW went up by one, resulting in a steal by Geo Baker and a 3-pointer by Paul Mulcahy that put the Scarlet Knights up for good, and committed two more turnovers when UW was in panic mode.

A large credit goes to Rutgers and Caleb McConnell, who leads the league in steals and registered six of them against the Badgers.

“He had a goal of being defensive player of the year, and he’s had 14 steals in three games against terrific teams,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said. “He had a real task. He wanted it. Johnny Davis is an elite scorer … Caleb is a good player. He does a lot of important things that don’t show up. You see some of the things that do show up in the box score, but the fact that he always wants the best player is really comforting for a coach.”

Ron Harper Jr. entered the afternoon leading Rutgers with 16.2 points per game, so it appeared a fortunate break for the Badgers when the senior went to the bench with two fouls less than three minutes into the game.

After seeing Wisconsin cut the early Rutgers lead to two, Pikiell put Harper back on the floor at the 11:02 mark and made adjustments with moving the senior around more offensively and using more zone defensively to protect him from a third foul. The result was a massive payoff for the Scarlet Knights, a 12-5 run to take a nine-point lead and sustain a lead throughout the first half.

Harper scored eight points during the 10 minutes he was on the court: two baskets during the 12-5 run, including a fadeaway to beat the shot clock, and a three-point play that canceled out Davis’ 3-point play the prior possession.

“He really did (lift our offense),” Pikiell said. “He had a great night on both ends of the floor, too. I love it when he’s active. He was rebounding, he was defending, he gets to the free-throw line, brings another dimension. I trust those guys … They got to make good decisions. Sometimes some of those decisions are out of their hands, but for the most part, they try to do a really good job of being locked in and focused.”

The senior finished with a game-high 21 points, as Rutgers outscored Wisconsin by 10 when he was on the floor.

With Geo Baker scoring 16 in the first half, eclipsing his season average of 12.3 points, Rutgers averaged 1.267 points over 30 first-half possessions, shooting 50 percent (13-for-26), 5-for-7 from 3, and 7-for-7 from the line. Those numbers would look more pedestrian had the Rutgers duo not went 9-for-14 from the floor, 4-for-7 from three, and 5-for-5 from the line.

“I thought we gave them way too much confidence,” Gard said. “Any mistake we made, they made us pay for. That’s what good teams do.”

The Badgers are usually in good shape when Brad Davison (86.7) or Chucky Hepburn (80) gets to the free-throw line, but the last few games have shown a chip in the armor. After only getting to the line three times against Penn State and missing eight free throws at Michigan State, Wisconsin went 9-for-17 from the line against Rutgers. The 52.9 percent was UW’s worst shooting game from the foul line when they attempted at least 10 free throws.

UW was even worse in the first half (7-for-15) and only got to the line twice in the second half. Wahl went a team-best 4-for-5 from the line, surprising considering he entered the day under 70 percent, but Davis missed three free throws in the first half while Lorne Bowman and Chris Vogt (the team’s two worst free-throw shooters) went a combined 1-for-3.

Making matters worse, Rutgers went 16-for-18 (88.9 percent) for the game and 9-for-11 in the second half to shut the door.

In an eight-point loss, those misses loom large, as they will with postseason play on the horizon.

UW lost its two previous home games without key players playing. On Saturday, the Badgers had their entire roster but their senior sharpshooter – Davison – continues to misfire.

A combined 3-for-19 from three-point range over the last three games, Davison finished 3-for-13 from the field and 1-for-9 from the perimeter for nine points. Adding insult to injury, Davison’s first basket was initially ruled a three-pointer, only to be correctly changed to a two later in the first half after a video review.

Gard said he trusts Davison’s shot selection and doesn’t believe any of the senior’s shots would fall under the “poor choice” category, but Davison is now 11-for-45 (24.4 percent) shooting over the last four games.

"Brad is in a bit of a shooting slump right now," Davis said. "We’re going to need him to get out of that real quick."

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